John Otis

John Otis, CPJ's Andes correspondent for the Americas program, works as a correspondent for Time magazine and the Global Post. He authored the 2010 book Law of the Jungle, about U.S. military contractors kidnapped by Colombian rebels, and is based in Bogotá, Colombia.

2013

Next to the mayor's office in the northern
Colombian town of Caucasia sits a monument to government dysfunction: a
half-built public library with broken windows, a water-stained floor, and
rusting reinforcement rods protruding from concrete pillars.

If the proposed sale of Globovisión, the single remaining TV
station critical of the Venezuelan government, is finalized next month, the broadcaster
will almost certainly become less combative and could eventually turn into
another government mouthpiece, according to news
reports, local journalists, and analysts.

In the wake of President Rafael Correa's
landslide re-election
on Sunday, many Ecuadoran reporters are bracing for another four years of
conflict with his left-leaning government. Neither side claims to relish
the prospect, but continued clashes seem inevitable given the bad
blood that has developed between them.

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It's by far the dullest space in the newspaper: Every day in
El
Universo, Ecuador's leading daily, readers can find eight small photos
and news blurbs summing up the activities of the eight presidential candidates.
The articles are the same size and blocked together in a layout that resembles
a tic-tac-toe game, minus the ninth square.

On September 11, 2012, the Ecuadoran government interrupted
a morning newscast on the Teleamazonas TV station for an official bulletin. What
could be so urgent? A coup d'etat? An earthquake? A cholera outbreak?

One
result of President Rafael Correa's high-profile campaign to demonize the
country's private media can be seen on the desk of José Velásquez, news manager
at Teleamazonas, a private Quito television station often critical of the
government. Among the documents piled high on his desk are lawsuits, which used
to be a rare thing. Encouraged by Correa, who has personally sued
newspapers and journalists, Velásquez says, the subjects of Teleamazonas news
reports are now filing between two and five lawsuits per month against the
station.